After a hectic first two days of racing here on Viti Levu island in Fiji, day three was a welcome return to "normalcy" in the dense jungles on this Eastern side of the island. After day two's rains, and the accompanying clouds of mystery surrounding the whereabouts of most teams, day three broke sunny and clear, with some interesting developments in the race.

When last we left our superheroes, they were headed into the night aboard their mountain bikes after having trekked through the "Lost World" jungle. After finally getting an internet connection and filing our reports, MountainZone.com settled in for two glorious hours of sleep Saturday night to awaken Sunday morning and head back into the jungle for an 8 a.m. rendezvous with the lead teams.

The leaders, including South African Team Mazda, Americans Montrail and France's Spie, were expected to arrive at the end of their mountain bike leg late Saturday night, where they would have to stop at a river, the first dark zone of the race. The plan was to put their single-person kayaks into the river at daybreak and arrive at a village called Namuamua mid-morning. At least that was the plan.

The overnight mountain bike leg took longer than expected, as lead teams arrived at the river early in the morning. After some food and rest, the leaders finally negotiated the mostly smooth river's paddling and class 1 rapids to the village downstream.

But while 14 teams headed to their 5th checkpoint by Sunday afternoon, all remaining teams were spread across the course - many of them a full day behind the leaders. All but four had at least cleared CP3 back in the Lost World, but beyond that no one knew exactly where they were. Such is the new style of Eco Challenge, which kept organizers' radios crackling all day.

But the tiny village of Namuamua (pop. 300) was a veritable grand central station Sunday, as teams first encountered the grassy riverside village during their mountain bike leg. Teams walked through the village, being warmly welcomed and greeted by every man, woman and child in sight - all of whom call out "bula!" as you walk by. Once through the village, teams portaged their bikes across the shallow but swift and wide Navua River, remounting their bikes for several more hours of riding to the kayak put-in.

Sitting next to the village throughout the morning, we were expecting the lead teams at any time and so headed into the village for photo ops. But you don't just walk into a Fijian village, especially on a Sunday. Bare legs are not appreciated, so photographers and reporters donned wraparound skirts known as sulus before entering, and even then it is customary to meet the village chief (turaga) or his spokesperson, known as a "turaganikoro." After some tea, crackers and polite conversation with our turaganikoro, we said thank-you and goodbye, walking around the village to await the lead teams.

And, hours after dropping off their bikes at an upstream village called Nambukarevu, the lead teams arrived at CP5 after several hours of kayaking downstream. And where did they arrive at the end of their rafting leg? Right back across from Namuamua, where they dropped off their kayaks and crossed the river back to the village. "Bula! - welcome... again" exclaimed one friendly local, as the teams walked back through the village and into the jungle for the long and arduous journey to checkpoint 6.

The first team to arrive by kayak was American Team Montrail, followed closely by the French Spie team. Both teams crossed the river, walking back through the village en route to CP6. But first they bought food - casava root - from the locals, and for members of Montrail a small luxury item was in order.

"Oh, that feels good," said Montrail's captain Rebecca Rusch as she tied her new sulu, bought for 15 Fijian dollars (US $8) from a villager. "I had to get out of those cycling shorts," she said as a woman showed her how to properly tie the bright blue skirt. Her teammates promptly followed suit, purchasing their own sulus and receiving fashion tips from the village's menfolk. Minutes later they were headed into the jungle, resplendent in their sulus as they sloshed up a muddy horse track.

Right behind them, the French team was silently trekking with the Americans (in bikini briefs, not sulus). We walked with the teams until drenched in sweat, then headed back to the river to cool off and catch the 3rd-place Aussies, Team Air Pacific, arriving into CP5. Minutes later the Finnish Nokia team arrived, followed by day two's leaders Mazda.

Meanwhile, teams ranked in the 20's continued to file through the village with their mountain bikes, at one point heading in one direction across the river while leading teams passed them in the other direction. All the while the children, some dressed in their Sunday best, laughed, chased, high-fived and said "bula!" to all the competitors, creating a memorable juxtaposition of adventure and home in a small village called Namuamua, on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu.

Next up for the leaders: Overland trek to CP6 and more tikis.

—Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent